This invention relates generally to web-based information and, more specifically, to blocking of web-based advertisements.
Publisher websites such as newspaper web pages, television station web pages, web log web pages, magazine web pages, social networking web pages, microblogging web pages, and other internet-based online publishing sources often include advertisements for companies and products.
Advertisements on a publisher website may include images, videos, text, animations, or other visual or audio messages. These advertisements are sometimes referred to as advertisement creatives.
Advertisements may be placed on a publisher web page by a variety of sources. As examples, an advertiser may purchase an advertisement block on the publisher web page directly from the publisher, through an advertising network, through an advertising exchange, through a demand side platform (DSP) or through some combination of these or other advertising channels.
Because of these various pathways in which an advertisement can be placed on a given publisher website, it can be difficult for publishers to keep track of which advertisers are advertising on their webpage and which advertising channels are placing advertisements on their webpage. This can be problematic for publishers that desire to prevent undesired advertisements from being displayed on the publisher's website.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved systems for detecting and blocking undesirable internet-based advertisements.